No, that is correct. Zoysia is in fact a hybrid of Bermuda grass. I have gone at it different ways in different areas and at different times. The worst my first home. There was about 5 years worth of B' growing in dense mats over the entire place. Only where the cars had driven in and pressed down a path was it short enough to walk through. I tried lots of ways. That's where I learned just how incredibly well it grows right through a foot of mulch. Anyway, what finally worked was I got a hold of a load of water damaged dry wall (sheet rock) and laid it out. After 3 months I pulled it back and scalped again, getting what had tried to grow under the dry wall. I then watered and yep, there were sprouts right away. I dug these out, meticulously following ever little bit of root as it traveled underground. Watered again and cleaned every speck again. these 2 watering/cleaning cycles took about 3 to 4 weeks. Then I started planting into areas, and row by row making sure it didn't come back. I reclaimed a good 1/2 acre + that way. I do recall "talking" to it, as I think you have from the sound of it ::smiles his jolly smile:: My first crop was okra and that was rather good at competing with what did try to grow. I lost a couple of plants where I just had to get the grass and the okra was in the way. All told, over the course of one year it was all gone. The following year a very few spots would see a sprout, I just stayed with it, digging out the entire root like an archaeologists digging for fossils. I could not have been more through if the stuff was selling for $1000 per ounce. But really the covering with the drywall did 95% + of the work. Scalping to start did a big part too.

Kel~ I hope the tub comes out easier than you think. How disappointing. :o( I'm glad the electrician at least showed up, but leaving broken glass all over.... sheeesh!??! Well, we have a great electrical crew. They were installing switches and plugs even in unpainted walls today, just to have something to do. ;o) LOL! They plan to bring an additional 2 men (workers who finished up jobs and must have nothing better to do) to our site tomorrow. This, and I haven't even ordered my lighting yet. Oops! They did install the recessed lighting in the master bed/bath today, and hooked it up. Woo--hooo! I have to say I am loving the lighting. DH was in there after dark, and I looked out our RV window and saw the glow from that room lighting out on the little private porch off the master. And it was such a thrill. :o) Sometimes it's the little things. The finishers have not been here for a week, and said they would come this evening? Nope. The tile crew (a big one, thank goodness!) arrived this morning and worked hard all day. Lots of backerboard layed, and they worked on the master shower pan. Yippee! Nevermind that if my finishers don't show soon, my tile crew will pass them up (as will our electricians). Only the 1st floor is finished. There's a bit of trim work drywall to be hung on the 3rd floor, and the hanger said he'd be back Monday. Nope. HVAC supervisor came out to discuss pads with dh. They will be installing our units soon. All 6 of them. LOL! The concrete man arrived today and discussed paving our driveway and out to the barn. We've got to get that done.... the rain the past few days is turning our old, graveled driveway into a mud bog. Not good when it's uphill to the house. LOL! DH and I are painting (and beginning to wonder the wisdom of "saving those bucks". I love to paint, but I'm already tired... LOL)! We painted the walls in the master bedroom and dh's office tonight. Whew. Will I ever stop seeing big white spots of primer? :) Can you tell we're so thrilled that work was being done on our house today?! Last week was a ghost town around here, and it was honestly depressing. Now this week, things are hopping. Sortof like labor pains.... once everyone starts showing up and getting busy, you forget how mad you are at them.... ha, ha. :o) Hope our busy work place continues.... and I hope that tomorrow brings all sorts of activity to your site, Kelntx. Just wanted to tell you to hang in there and keep hoping. It's amazing what one day of a busy crew on a house can do for progress.... and your nerves! ;O) Now... don't tell me I jinxed myself with all of my happy talk....... :O)

About all I can say is you goofed up and got the grass that is only about 1% successful in San Antonio. There's a reason why everyone has St Augustine or bermuda and you don't see much zoysia. I know of three zoysia lawns where they have gone for years without replacing them with St Aug or bermuda. Two years ago they all suffered from the rains, but the owners remained patient until last spring when the problem cleared up. I drove by all three of them this past weekend and one of them is not suffering (yet). The other two are showing signs of stress in the same spots that died out 2 years ago. The one that is not suffering has an $8 million home behind it so they are probably simply throwing money into the solution. They had a party on the grass this weekend, so I'll check back in 3 weeks to see how it's doing. Did you ask the landscaper to level it first? and did he agree? If so then you might be able to get them to come back and fix it. In a few weeks your brown areas will turn very dark gray for the rest of the year. They should return normal green next April. Without a Herculean effort to fix your drainage that will be your plight. You likely don't have clay. I know it acts like clay, but it's not. If you want to find out for sure what your soil chemistry is, send a sample to Logan Labs in Ohio (the $25 test) and post your results here on this forum for comments. Adding more topsoil is not always the solution. It may be an optical illusion but is there a high spot in the yard along with the obvious low spot? I'm thinking from the view of the camera toward the chair in the corner, about 1/3 of the way toward the chair. It appears to be a hump but it could be camera distortion. If there is no hump, then perhaps more soil could have helped but ONLY IN THE LOW SPOT. In the mean time you might get the soil to drain better by spraying it with shampoo. The use of surfactants on turf has a long established history, so this is not a trick. Shampoo is just an inexpensive way to get the same results the golf courses get. The application rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Apply any time with a hose end sprayer. When it's working the soil should feel soft after it rains. Soft is not soggy or mushy. Soft should be dry but unstable feeling. Then when the soil dries completely after a week or so without any moisture, then it should feel hard. It should only be soft for 2-3 days after a deep rain. Once your zoysia is established and knit to the ground, and when the rains stop, you can get on a more regular routine of watering once a week or every 2 weeks as our water restrictions allow. You'll have to water a full inch at a time to make this work. Measure how long it takes your watering system to apply an inch by placing cat food or tuna cans in the yard. Time how long it takes to fill the cans, and that is your watering time from now on. San Antonio's water restrictions are very workable for lawns.

Before you buy into the UC Verde, find some at a local nursery and rub your arms over it. Wait 20 minutes and if you don't have to claw your arms off, then you're probably good to go. It turns out I'm highly allergic to several prairie grasses including buffalo grass. I can get by on the grass, but when there are flowers and seeds I need to stay off of it. Also, while you're at the nursery, ask them if they know of any UC Verde installations you could drive by and look at. Seeing it in the store and seeing it in real life conditions can be much different. Buffalo will survive on less water than zoysia. What that means is if you absolutely not allowed to water, once the rain comes the buffalo will return. The zoysia is likely to return, but it might not be until the following April. In my experience with zoysia if it gets damaged during the year, it will not recover until spring. Buffalo should send criss crossing stolons all over all the time. Most buffalo does not spread quickly, but I think UC Verde is one that does. Another called Turffalo also spreads quickly. Both require full sun. If you have any plants that partially block the sun for part of the day, it will thin out to the north. I've seen buffalo thin out on the west side of a brick mailbox, too. I think in your area either grass will go dormant in the winter. If you were at the bottom of the hill (Santa Monica) instead of where you are, then it might remain green all year.